It’s a real winter’s day in Cape Town. That’s fine with me though, because when it’s rainy and cold I get to drink copious amounts of tea and be productive. However, this weekend I took advantage of the warm weather and got dressed up in my vintage gear and moved our antique furniture to the back garden. That’s Cape Town for you – warm one day and freezing cold the next. Anyway, I love this red dress, it’s one of my greatest finds and for the first time I got to wear it. Buying vintage for myself and ending up using it in a VL shoot has become the norm in my life. Not this time! This dress belonged to my mom’s friend’s friend. It was her matric dance (prom) dress and she sold it to me for R50 (I know, right????). It’s still in such perfect condition. I’m not showing the dress in full here because I might wear it again and I’m hoping no one will notice. Harhar.

Dress: vintage / Red material: Paul van Zyl / Paited headband: Gift / Roses: Picked from the garden of course / Make-up: I’m only wearing mascara and it’s from Ingrid Millet. Photograph by Luke Marchant.

]]> http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/05/18/dear-diary/feed/ 8 http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/05/16/living-in-a-fantasy-world/ http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/05/16/living-in-a-fantasy-world/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 13:58:08 +0000 Nicole Danielle Warr http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/?p=3763

I’m currently laying on the grass underneath a big tree that’s loosing its orange leaves. I feel like I’ve been living in this fantasy world for the past few weeks. I’ve been obsessed with rich colours, nature, plaited hair, flowers, fairy tale fashion editorials, heck I’ve even watched Aladdin recently. I guess autumn does this to me. If you want proof, my two autumn fashion editorials for VL magazine have both been rather whimsical and foresty – here’s a link to shoot 1 and shoot 2. The feedback from both of these shoots are the best I’ve ever received. IT’S A SIGN.

I don’t do this often, but I want to thank Romy from Riya Bella Vintage for featuring me on her blog. I’m really honoured as her blog is one of my favourites. You can read it here if you like.

Source 1, 2

]]> http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/05/16/living-in-a-fantasy-world/feed/ 8 http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/05/15/kate-moss-for-mango/ http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/05/15/kate-moss-for-mango/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 08:06:29 +0000 Nicole Danielle Warr http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/?p=3695

Yes. Kate Moss does look good in practically everything she wears. Apart from that, I’ve always loved Mango clothing. The quality has always been exceptional in my eyes. I wonder when this collection will be available in SA? Because I kinda need that sheer black dress in my life.

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“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” – Marilyn Monroe.

Dress: Mango / Shoes: Converse / Sunnies: Thrifted

Pink embroidered organza evening dress with ribbon bow, Bellville Sassoon, 1964.

Coral cape gown, Yuki, 1972.

Pink embroidered and quilted silk bustier, jacket and crinoline skirt, Cindy Beadman, late Seventies.

Printed silk evening gown, petticoat and bodice, Elizabeth Emanuel, 1999.

Silk evening dress with appliqué, quilting and beading, Erdem, autumn/winter 2008-09.

Ruffled, dip-dyed silk evening dress, Felicity Brown, spring/summer 2011.

Ruffled dress, Giles Deacon, spring/summer 2007.

Printed silk dress with pelmet, Mary Katrantzou, spring/summer 2011.

Floor-length feather gown, Alexander McQueen, spring/summer 2011.

Gold leather jacket, corset and purple lace skirt, Ossie Clark, 1971.

Silk evening dress with net apron, Roksanda Illincic, spring/summer 2009.

Black silk evening dress with red and black stiped bodice and bow, Victor Edelstein, 1986.

One of my favourite museums in the whole wide world is the V&A museum in London. I literally browsed for 3 hours…in just the fashion section. With that said it is with no surprise that I would do almost anything to attend their ballgown exhibition. I mean what girl wouldn’t? To be a few steps away from the most exquisite red carpet and catwalk dresses in the world, some dating back to the 1950s, would be a dream come true.

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This is what happens when you go to your sister’s new apartment, steal her MaxMara jacket, zip it right to the top and end up looking like a ninja burglar.

Love this 60s inspired shoot with Natalia Vodianova for US Vogue (September 2011). You’ll recognise Brighton in the background too.

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Photographer – Matthew Schnetler
Fashion Stylist – Nicole Danielle Warr
Make-up Artist – Marieke Merts
Hair Stylist – Midgley Ross Howe
Model – Katherina Oberlerchner
Assistant – Chenay Glover

When Matthew mentioned a 50s film noir style studio shoot I literally jumped up and down. I’m so honoured to have worked on this with Matt. He also let me direct the model, which is pretty cool. I drew my styling inspiration from Coco Chanel, Grace Kelly, Katherine Hepburn and 1950s Dior. I wanted frills, pleats, bows and accentuated waists. I wanted something feminine and beautiful – the epitome of a famous movie star. I have Janece from Vintage Lover to thank for the garments – she was so kind as to lend items that belong to her personally as well as items that are for sale. I found that putting the different looks together was easier than all the other shoots I’ve ever done. Simply for one reason: all the images were black and white and putting black, brown, blue, red, orange and white together didn’t matter.

I was delighted to have my good friend Katie from Katema model for us. Her look was exactly what we were going for (Katherine Hepburn/Marlene Dietrich). Katie also let us use her amazing Chanel purse.

Super impressed with VL’s first ever studio shoot.

This fashion editorial was featured in issue nine of Vintage Lifestyle magazine. Turn to page 56 for full credits.

]]> http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/04/25/behind-the-scenes-of-past-perfect/feed/ 12 http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/04/21/new-boots/ http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/2012/04/21/new-boots/#comments Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:21:57 +0000 Nicole Danielle Warr http://blog.diamondsanddust.co.za/?p=3596

These are my new boots.

And I’m going to live in them this winter.

Whenever I think of autumn I think of forests. I think of autumn colours: rusty red, burnt orange, maroon, brown, even ivory. When sketching out what I wanted for my autumn fashion story, the first person that came to mind was Cape Town based fashion blogger Aisha Baker, aka Baked The Blog. Aisha reminds me of someone from a fairy tale. Her look was perfect. I had trouble finding the right location…nothing seemed to fit in with what I had envisioned, until I discovered Camps Bay Retreat. It has the most amazing gardens, trails, an ancient looking pool, and an old school rope bridge (the team had fun/were completely freaked out by walking along that). Camps Bay Retreat also borderlines the Glen Forest.

[had to show this picture of the bridge]

I inherited the patterned skirts, the long black dress and the cloak from my grandmother. They were made especially for her in Athens, Greece, in the 1970s. The avant garde dress in the first picture and the palazzo pants in the third picture were made by my high school friend and prac partner, Carrie Ferreira. The props were all given to me by my grandmother; the Peter Pan and Wendy book, the flower basket and the hat. Two things that I HAD to have in this shoot were the flying butterflies and the red dust! Many thought the dust wouldn’t work, but that never stopped me. We got the shots and I’m so happy with the outcome.

Everyone keeps asking me about the red dress and that long trail. The red dress is a normal length but I added 5 metres of red material to make the illusion of a trail.

The make-up and hair were top notch. Midgley and Marieke are so good at what they do (they make me laugh soooo much too). My assistant Chenay (who is actually my cousin) had to hold sheets, reflectors, piles of clothes, etc and never complained once. Super impressed with Lauren, she worked so hard on this.

A huge thank you to everyone who worked on this shoot, including my Luke, I couldn’t have done this without you guys.

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